Rising Moon
Summary: A second chance wasn't something I, Aldrin Zevon, expected. I didn't expect to wake up in a five-year-old body in a forest, nor did I expect what would come after. A multiverse of possibilities has opened up to me, and I intend to take it for all it is worth. SI-OCxHarem, Fairy Tail/Multicross Story
This story is inspired by A Nascent Kaleidoscope by AStoryForOne. I HIGHLY recommend you go check it out. It's almost 1 Million words, still going strong, and definitely worth the read.
Chapter 7
I grit my teeth as I blocked a punch from Selene, crossing my arms over my chest to withstand the force of the blow as this time, unlike several other times, I held my ground. I turned my palm to face her, magic gathering over my hand.
Selene instantly ducked out of the way as a beam of light shot by her head, sweeping at my legs with a kick and knocking me over, the sudden move making me do a half rotation, so I was upside down, face to face with her.
I opened my mouth, unleashing a roar that forced her to lift her own arms and be sent skidding back. I placed my hands on the ground to stop myself from landing on the head and shoved off the ground, soaring up into the air.
Selene wasted no time jumping towards me, leg lifted high to deliver an axe kick.
"Meteor!"
My body was covered in light, and I vanished from her sight, re-appearing behind her as I moved around her. I held my hand to her back, unleashing a blast of magic straight at her back.
She didn't hesitate as she used the momentum from her kick to do a full flip and kick my hand upwards, forcing my attach to soar upwards instead of at her back. Light covered her hand, and she went for a punch towards my face.
My form flickered in front of her as I vanished from her sight, re-appearing on the ground slightly crouched, having used my Dimension Dragon magic to short warp down to the ground, away from her attack.
"I see," Selene nodded. "You've taken to those books on Heavenly Body Magic rather well… Using them with your Dragon Slayer Magic, aren't you? Rather ingenious, given it is another power of the stars. Perfectly compatible with my magic."
"Well, I do need some kind of advantage over you," I told her, offering her a small grin.
She returned the grin with a smirk as she lifted her hand up slightly.
I immediately knew what was coming and coated my body in Meteor as I shot backwards right as a tornado of magic shot up from where I was standing.
I held a palm upwards, making the peace sign with my other hand before I rest my hand on my palm.
Seven beams of light unleashed from the sky, soaring straight down towards Selene-
Or where she used to be.
I let out a yell of pain as a foot impacted my back, knocking me to the ground. I couldn't even turn before her knee was placed on my back, a hand on my head and her fingers at my throat.
"You lose," she said simply.
"I lose," I agreed.
She got off of my back, allowing me to roll over onto it and stare up at her. "Was the axe kick where you flashed me necessary?" I asked her.
She offered a shrug. "It was meant to distract you, given I've noticed how you've been looking at myself and Qila. I can also smell that you've been relieving yourself," she smirked. "Rather young for that, aren't you?"
I just scowled without answering, a blush on my cheeks.
Two years had passed since I began my training under Selene, and I was seven years old now- at least we reckoned- and things were going well if you asked me.
My training under Selene was rough. She didn't teach me a proper fighting style, something I would definitely pick up later on when I could, but she made sure that I wasn't only doing magic unlike the first few months. She made sure I was well educated in history, in knowledge of other magics, and made sure that my body was being tempered properly to be a weapon of destruction later on.
Selene had never displayed dragon-like qualities in the manga, but I quickly saw where they all went. She sought knowledge, and she collected books from all throughout the eras. There were so many books that I could hardly believe some of the rare forms of magic I found she had just laid around!
In my free time, when I wasn't being doted on by Qila, I would read the books. I loved reading, it was something I did remember enjoying very much in my past life. Both reading and writing…
Hm, maybe I should consider taking up writing again? Could make a decent profit.
Anyway, while I was reading books, I found Heavenly Body Magic. The more I read about it, the more I decided that it would be worth it to try replicating it with my Dragon Slayer Magic. Given Heavenly Body Magic used the power of astral bodies, the 'stars,' I figured that it would be worthwhile trying to mimic the effects with Moon Dragon Slayer Magic.
There was a lot of trial and error along the way, but I managed it. The spells themselves still needed some refinement, but they also held the benefit of Dragon Slaying properties that would be of great use to me in the future. I didn't plan to stick around Guiltina forever, after all. There was a whole multiverse I could explore.
I also picked up a few other handy magics like Re-quip, which I replicated with my Dimension Dragon Slayer Magic, along with how to sense magic and telepathy.
I also found a book containing the steps on God Slayer Magic, something I decided would be vital depending on the events that would come. After all, the spell Qila taught me to traverse dimensions was unrefined and would need some work before it could take me to where I wanted to go. Until then, it would be dive in and hope I didn't end up in a shitty place.
Sadly, I'd had no luck with God Slayer Magic thus far. It was a lost magic, it wasn't going to be easy to learn. I think my difficulty also came from the fact that that I already knew Dragon Slayer Magic, and I was attempting to create Moon God Slayer Magic. Thus, my Dragon Slayer Magic kept interfering due to the two feeling very similar.
"Am I still not ready for the Secret Arts?" I decided to shift the topic instead of letting the topic continue on my very early puberty.
She tapped her chin. "Almost," she told him. "I'd like you to develop your Moon Dragon Slaying Magic a bit more before I let you have a go at the Secret Arts. I know you can only master them so much before you need experience to hone yourself, but I'd like to see your spells at a satisfactory level before I teach you the secret arts."
"Fair enough," I nodded in agreement, slowly getting up and stretching. "Anything else I should know?"
"Actually, yes," she smirked. "My son, after a couple of years of thinking about it, has decided to teach you his own Dragon Slaying Magic."
"Which son?"
"Kurnugi."
Oh? The Sword Saint Dragon… I certainly wouldn't say no to having another Dragon Slaying Magic, especially one that involved wielding a weapon. There was nothing wrong with using my body, but a weapon would help me feel more secure. Especially if I was going to fight against someone like Erza.
"I'll look forward to training under my older brother," I told her.
"Good," she nodded. "How is your progress on God Slayer Magic?" There was a tinge of annoyance in her voice. As a dragon, she had an opinion on gods, and it wasn't a good one. Especially since God Slayers tended to have a certain level of immunity against Dragon Slayers, and it took some work to devour the elements of gods.
"Sadly, it's not going very well," I told her. "Dragon Slaying Magic is to… Similar in how it works, so I keep calling upon the magic you taught me, rather than creating a new one."
She pursed her lips. "You don't have need of it," she tried to convince me once again.
"You know I fully intend to travel to other worlds," I told her firmly. "I never know just what is out there. Best I have something and not need it, then need something and not have it."
"Hm…" She wrinkled her nose, clearly displeased, but not willing to press the argument again as she had several times in the past. "You can have the next few days off from training to work on your magic. When Kurnugi arrives, he'll begin your training in the ways of the Sword Saint Dragon."
"Yes, Selene," I nodded.
She pouted. "You still won't call me mother?"
"Nope."
"One day you will."
"But that day isn't today."
"… Damn you."
.
.
.
"Right, so er… Time to get your training started," Kurnugi said to me as he faced me down on the training field.
Any lingering fear I might have had for him sort of just died away after I saw just how goofy the Sword Saint Dragon was. He was sort of like that best friend side character in anime who was silly and ignorant and said stupid things that you couldn't help but laugh at.
He stuck around, staying somewhat close to me for a few days due to needing to inject his magic into me regularly so that my container could adjust to his magic. Qila seemed to be a bit jealous and hugged me tightly during the entire event, as if Kurnugi might 'steal' me from her or some such thing.
"I've never really taught anyone before," he freely admitted. "So, uh, I guess we'll see how this goes. You can already do the basics right? Roar, Fist, Talon, Slash?"
"Roar, Fist, Talon, no problem," I nodded. "The slash must be the moulding aspect, right? If you give me a couple of tries, I think I can handle that."
"Good, we'll do a bit of work on that just to make sure you have it down," he turned to the side, his arm being covered in a silver aura before he swiped with his arm firmly at a boulder nearby.
The boulder was split neatly where he sliced.
I let out a low whistle. Rather than the raw destruction of the Wing Attack or Tail Swipe, the Slash was much more refined. I liked that.
The slash wasn't all that hard to get down. I used the advice that Asuma gave Naruto in the anime when he was learning Wind Manipulation. As thin and as sharp as possible.
"Impressive," I heard Kurnugi mutter as I sliced a boulder with relative ease after a few tries. Not as clean as his own slash, but still pretty good if you asked me. "That's a surprisingly clean cut for only a few tries, this might be more fun than I thought."
"Where do we start then?" I asked him.
"Well, first thing you should know is that Sword Saint Magic is… Different to other Dragon Slayer Magics," he told me. "Where other Dragon Slayer magics rely on the body, my own Slayer Magic works best when used together with a weapon. The basics you learn are more of a 'in case you don't have a sword.' You can still use them without a sword, but they work best with."
"Got a sword for me?" I asked him.
He just snorted and turned his gaze to Qila, who was watching from the side. "Sister, if you would please."
"Of course," she nodded, ripping open a portal to her own dimension and pulling out two sheathed swords. She promptly tossed them to us after closing the dimension, and then kept watching.
I caught the weapon and flicked it out of its sheath, gazing upon it. It was nothing special, just a plain steel sword. Clearly it would only be for training, I'd likely receive my own sword from Kurnugi after training or I'd have to get my own made.
"Right, first and foremost, I'm going to teach you how to wield a sword," he told me. "Don't want you accidentally cutting your head off or anything."
"… That's possible?"
"Anything is possible with human stupidity."
Ah, that was a powerful argument that I couldn't debate.
And thus, Kurnugi began to teach me how to wield a sword. Much like with Selene, he didn't teach me a straight out sword style, but merely how to use a sword. How to slash, thrust, swing, block, and many other such tricks.
It was something else to add to the list of things that I would have to learn, a proper sword style. I would create my own, but I didn't know anything about wielding a sword beyond what Kurnugi was teaching me, and a sword style wasn't something that was very easy to just pick up from books.
No, I would need a proper teacher if I wanted to learn how to wield a sword properly. But that was fine with me, learning the magic was good enough to me for now. And just learning how to properly wield a sword would help me have a good foundation for when I did learn a sword style.
"Right," Kurnugi nodded. "Now that I'm confident that you won't cut off your head accidentally with that sword, it's time to get properly started."
"Alright, let's do this," I grinned.
"The first thing to know is that, unlike other Dragon Slayer arts, there are no set 'techniques' to my own Slayer Art."
I blinked, my grin fading. "What do you mean?"
"Unlike most other Dragon Slaying Magics which tend to use different combinations of the principles, my own focuses heavily on the principle of moulding," he explained. "Let me show you an example."
He turned to face away from me, gripping his sword firmly with both hands as he focused on a nearby boulder.
Instantly, the air around him shifted and I felt a shudder run through my spine as I saw his eyes narrow.
He tensed. And then he thrust.
A beam of light unleashed from the blade, piercing straight through the boulder, and leaving a perfectly round hole in it.
He didn't even give me time to register before he lifted up the sword and swung down, this time a burst of flames erupting from the sword and slamming into the rock, splitting it clean in half and causing the insides to have melted slightly.
He turned to look at me. "What you saw was not any form of fire magic or holy magic or anything like that," he told me. "What you saw was purely Sword Saint Dragon Slayer Magic."
"But… The flames…" I spluttered, still staring at the boulder.
"This is what sets Sword Saint Dragon Slayer magic apart from others," he told me. "The moulding aspect is vitally important, because we can mould almost anything with a swing of our sword. It is closer to a variant of Maker Magic than other dragon slaying arts, and thus it is incredibly versatile. That is why Sword Saint Dragon Slayer Magic doesn't have traditional 'basic' spells, because it is up to the individual to create their own attacks. All I can teach you is how to mould that magic to do so."
I cast my gaze back to him, feeling in awe… It was no wonder Suzaku was considered to be so powerful. This magic was strong, but the sheer versatility it offered was on par of what I'd been told of the Four Beasts Dragon Slayer Magic…
No, was it even better?
"Are you ready to learn?"
"… I am."
"Then let's begin."